My Summer with Poppy
by cerealxkiller
Summary: This is the summer of my final Hogwarts year. In 1975 I had no other comrades than my grandfather Poppy and my worst enemy, Potter. With the Mauraders, Vermin, and my grandfather...Let us just say it would be a summer to remember.
1. And So It Starts

_Hello everybody, this is my newest story. I'm getting a bit bored with my other one and this has been floating in the old brain case for a couple of days so I figured I would give it a shot. Anyways on with the other stuff…_

_Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Harry Potter that J.K. Rowling has. I have however sort of created this alternate story, there is no doubt in my mind that this has been thought of before me. So please, I am in no way trying to infringe on anybody's works. So yeah, have a fun time reading!_

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It was the summer of 1975, and I was laying quite comfortably in my yard soaking up the rays. My parents had rented a cottage in the country to console me for the five weeks that I was spending with Petunia and her loved one Vernon. Or as I affectionately called him under my breath, Vermin. Of course, he was aware that I detested the ground that he walked on. Vernon (or Vermin) was a rather round fellow, when put politely. Petunia liked to call him masculine, and my raging racist of a grandfather called him "that ignorant son-of-a-bitch whose mother should of committed suicide when she saw his face." To put it plainly, my grandfather and I were on good terms that summer and in turn I finally wasn't embarrassed to walk out of the house relatively close to him. Luckily enough for me, Poppy agreed to accompany my family with Vermin. Even if I was contemplating suicide, Poppy would keep me entertained. Poppy was a classic old man, he had fought in World War I and enjoyed telling us stories of the trenches. And when he got drunk he exposed the scarring on his foot which he received when the rats gnawed on it in his sleep. Needless to say, Poppy didn't go into public areas with us often. Other than that, he looked rather innocent. There were a few wispy white hairs fought valiantly against his impending baldness. And his suspenders were eternally stretched over his rather large belly no doubt gained from his endless drinking. His stomach could also have been caused by his weakness for butter and jam sandwiches, honestly I have no idea where this mans habits came from. Of course since Poppy was a muggle, I had to hide much of the contents of my room from him. Snorky, my owl was forced to stay quiet at least during the day light hours, and once the sun fell he was allowed to roam freely around the cottage neighborhood. Oh yes, the cottage was one of five. There was a small cul-de-sack and then a small park-esque thing in the middle. Our neighbors consisted of two empty cottages, a grumpy old man who lived there year round, a young couple who were on their honeymoon (enough said) and a middle aged woman who tended to the lawns and such.

The grumpy old man was about my Poppy's age and they had immediately had declared war on each other. Apparently it had to do with some sort of sports team, or the Japanese. The old man did not look Japanese to me in the slightest; he unlike my grandfather had retained a full head of hair and had old man knees. Unfortunately as I was trying to rest, another fight broke out.

"You dirty commie fascist pig!" My grandfather spurted out as if it was a fact. It however it was not, calling something Communist and Fascist would be like calling a banana orange. It just simply isn't so.

"You stupid ignorant muggle!" The neighbor called back from the security of his own lawn. Wait; did that old man just say muggle? No he couldn't have, he is an old man. Nevertheless, I needed to see where this headed. Staring at the men from the refuge of my lawn chair, I looked back and forth as if watching a tennis match. The two men spat insults from each side of the lawn and the language became increasingly vulgar particularly from Poppy's side. Then a tidbit of the conversation caught my ears, of course this wasn't hard because I was sitting only about five yards away from the feuding men.

"If you aren't the ugliest, stupidest, most crude man I've ever met in my life, my name isn't James Potter!" The old man yelled from his yard. Whoa, what was that?

"James Potter?!" I screeched shrilly. Standing up a little too quickly my head crashed into the tree trunk which resulted in a string of curses. Making my way to the old men I stared at the red-faced man in front of me. "Your name is James Potter? But you're old and…old." I said staring at him up and down. The more I looked at him the more I saw similarities to the James Potter I knew. Thin wire glasses balanced dangerously on the edge of his nose and the traces of a smirk could be seen on his features even while furious.

"Yes I am James Potter." The man said obviously disgruntled. Then as if inspiration struck, he cried "You are one of us also! You must know Jamie from Hogwarts!" Almost immediately he had from a stubborn old man to a proud grandparent.

It was now Poppy's turn to be confused, "Hogwarts?" he asked me perplexed "I thought you went to Madame Azures Finishing School for Girls…" My grandfather was a little delayed on the times; Madame Azures had closed in 1937.

Particularly tickled me, James 'The Man' Potter was being referred to as Jamie. I let out a giggle but stifled it and continued to talk with James Potter, the old man. "Yes I do actually. But why are you here with all the muggles?"

Infuriated that I had ignored his question and even angrier that his granddaughter and worst enemy were talking about something he couldn't understand, Poppy stomped off no doubt looking for a particular Vermin to terrify.

"I like it here." He said simply and gestured to the trees and the lake. "It is simple, and actually I'm quite fascinated by the inventions that the muggles have come up with. Electricity, plugs, radio…" He continued to tick off several items and finished. "Amazing."

"Yes it is actually." I nodded in agreement; this clearly was a very fascinating man. Why couldn't James be this well mannered and polite? After thinking that it would be too creepy for an old man to be coming on to me, I decided it was better that James was different from his grandfather.

"Oh and won't it be grand!" Mr. Potter clapped his hands excitedly like a child. "Jamie and his friends will be coming up in a couple of days to visit me. Maybe they can seek revenge on that balloon of a boy…" All childlike innocence lost, Mr. Potter rubbed his hands wickedly together. My Poppy and Mr. Potter shared one thing, their hate for Vermin. I couldn't help but smile, the idea of an old man taking on Vernon was amusing.

"Potter is coming here?" I asked and I must have paled because Mr. Potter came over and comforted me. From the kitchen Poppy yelled "Keep your hands off my granddaughter!" and Mr. Potter promptly let go of my arm.

"Yes dear, isn't that swell? Imagine, it will be like a Hogwarts reunion. Unless you are from Slytherin, and if you are I fear you will be living in terror for at least a week." He mused and looked up at me; apparently oblivious to the fact that I was dreading Potters arrival with every fiber of my being.

"Yeah, just swell…" I muttered and made a move to leave "I think Poppy needs me in the kitchen, so maybe I'll see you later…" Turning around I walked through the porch and into the kitchen. Apparently the house was deserted; taking my chances I began to compose a letter to my dearest friend Olivia in the safety of my own room.

_Olivia-_

_How has your summer been? I hope it has been good; mine has, at least until now. Potter has kept his promise not to mail me, or Remus has kidnapped his owl like he had threatened to…Anyways, I have some terrible news. I met Potters grandfather today (a nice fellow actually) and Potter and the gang are coming to visit in a couple of days! Days Olivia! No time for me to prepare for battle, I must simply lock myself in my room and wait for the bombardment to be over. But I recently learned to drive, so maybe I can drive away…Oh that is a good plan. I'm sorry that I unburden all my woes on you, but you are the only one who doesn't tease me…Too much._

_Also how has camp been? I can't wait to hear about the hexes that you and the boys' camp have come up with so far! Please write back, Vermin has been stuffing his face and then kissing Petunia and I threw up in my mouth earlier today from the sight. I need a sane companion! The only one who I sometimes talk to is Poppy and we know that he can't be trusted with any information…Once again, I beg of you! Write back!_

_Love Always,_

_ Lily_

No longer caring about what my neighbors thought, I mailed the letter and watched Snorky sail in the skies finally free of the prison that was my room. Flopping myself on my bed I stuffed my face into my pillow and dreaded the arrival of the boys who would make my life difficult for the next couple of weeks.

_**-x-**_

_Sorry, I know it is short, but I just needed to make some background and such. Please review!_


	2. RIP Snorky

_Thank you so much ilyjamespotter for the review! Please forgive me for some of this fluff until the real action with James and Lily begins. Just keep reading! Oh and review. Yeah thanks._

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Only about five minutes after letting Snorky free, something exploded into my room. This something was my lovable but irritating sister Petunia. Petunia and Vermin made quite the pair actually, while Petunia looked like a girl who had been stretched out too far, Vermin looked like he had been squashed. Unfortunately for Petunia, she had rather large teeth. Paired with her drawn out facial features she resembled a horse at times. But at this moment she looked rather distraught.

"What is it Petty?" Usually I wouldn't pull this crap and use her pet name. Oh that was a good pun, anyways she was looking pretty shaken up and so I decided she might let it slide. And I was right.

"Oh please Lily. Please tell me that your thing," And by my thing she was referring to Snorky, she still didn't believe that owls could fly during the day. "Is in its cage and not outside." My face fell, what happened? Snorky? That owl was my comfort several times a year when the pressures of school and Potter became too much. Better than a person, mostly because he couldn't respond, Snorky had saved my sanity many a time.

"What do you mean Petunia?" My voice had become cold and I was sure it was trembling. Attempting a smile which came out more as a grimace I stared at her. What did she do?

"Well Vernon and I were outside…And well you know how he loves to hunt…" I went from frightened to absolutely livid. That bastard! Poppy was right! Blood boiling I began to scream at everybody and anybody who was listening.

"Oh you better run Vermin!" I tore out of my room and ran outside. Finding Vermin standing like the dunce that he was with my dead…SNORKY! Screaming like a banshee I continued on my rant "You bastard! You are going to pay for Snorky!" Taking a rather capital punishment view on the entire thing I sustained my anger. "You know what they say! An eye for an eye!" Getting rather caught up in my new philosophy and a malicious gleam in my eye I continued "A LIFE FOR A LIFE!" Laughing manically I pulled my wand out my back pocket.

This entire time, Vermin was paling and looking anxiously for his dear Petty who would save him from her clearly insane sister. "Petty?" He called resembling a rather large rat that was cornered and being poked with a hot iron. "Petunia!" With the revealing of my wand, Vermin became increasingly frightened.

"Lily! What are you doing?!" Petunia questioned also very frightened at stick that I was pointing now at Vermin's throat.

"I'm doing what should have been done years ago Petunia!" Staring Vermin in the face I raised a brow and started to say something very calmly and clearly. The calm voice shook Vermin and Petunia up more than any of my raving had. Adjusting my aim to roughly Vermin's forehead I continued.

"Avada K-Ooof!" Suddenly I was side tackled with much force, obviously not from Petunia or Vermin and when I saw the jet black hair I knew. Still recovering my senses from being knocked to the ground, I allowed Potter to awkwardly get up and hover over my body before standing up and looking at Vermin as a threat to my well being. Sitting up I heard Vermin whisper to Petunia.

"I didn't know your sister was such an animal lover." Oh god, how stupid was that boy? Very would be the answer, but fortunately Potter stopped me from attempting to murder Vernon again.

"Evans? What are you doing here?" James asked curiously looking at my sister and to me and then to his friends who were standing in the back clearly miffed at the situation.

"I _was_ on vacation. But clearly that has ended rather abruptly." I replied peeved and standing up I began to wipe off the dirt and grass that had stuck to my pants. Throwing a glance to the Marauders I nodded in greeting and continued to stare at Vernon with a motive for murder.

"Oh." James looked confused and then looked to the now canoodling pair by the tree. "Who are they? Is that your sister?" A great smile broke across his face and marching up smartly to Petunia and thrust out his hand. "Hello my name is James Potter. And I just wanted to tell you that I am going to marry your sister."

Annoyed by this disturbance in her personal time with Vernon, Petunia stared at Potter realization flooding across her face. "Y-you're one of them?" She asked and stared at his hand with disgust clearly written on her features. Inching away from his outstretched hand like it carried the plague, Petunia muttered "That's very nice, now please leave me alone. Wait. You are marrying Lily?" Smirking, which was worse than her fear, Petunia rose her eyebrows and prepared for rapid fire questioning. "How long have you been going out? How did you meet, oh yes of course…How old are you? Do you have any siblings? How tall are you? Do you love her? Have you meet Vernon? Isn't he such a dear? Oh Lily, James is so cute! You are so lucky!"

Smiling like the Cheshire cat James answered her questions slowly and thoughtfully. "Of course I'm marrying Lily. No, we actually haven't ever gone out, but Lily will crumble to my will soon enough…I'm 17, no I'm an only child sadly. I have never experienced the joys of siblings. I…I don't know how tall I am actually." Casting a loving glance towards me James said slowly and deliberately "Of course, I love-

"Okay that's enough." Butting into the conversation I physically placed myself between the chatting pair. "No Petunia. James and I are not romantically involved, nor will we ever be. Now you and Vermin…" Damn it let one slip. "Go get a room, oh and Vernon? You will be paying for what you did to my owl. I'm of age now." I said maliciously and turned to the boys. "Hello Potter, Black, Remus and…Where's Peter?" The boy that usually tagged along with Sirius, James and Remus was missing.

"Oh, he had some previous engagements." Sirius said carelessly and mumbled something about camp.

"Huh. Well thank you Potter for saving Vermin's life…I guess. And I guess I'll see you later. Oh and your grandfather is a dear by the way."


End file.
